MIAM

Friday, 23 September 2016

Five on Friday

It's been a busy old time recently,....(more of that later) so blogging has been brief and sporadic... no change there then, I hear you cry. Here's an update with what's been goin' down in my neck of the woods.

1

Last week, whilst the south of England was basking in sub tropical temperatures, I took a trip to the coast to visit a friend who lives a stone's throw from the sea. Another friend joined us and we strolled to the beach side café at Shoreham Harbour and ate lunch, chewed the cud and sipped wine...all very pleasant indeed.

From our table we could see the new i360 Tower at Brighton. For those not familiar with it, there's a pod around the exterior of the tower which travels slowly up to the top for fabulous views over the coastline and South Downs. The day before, it had broken down stranding visitors halfway up it for two hours, and since then it's stopped again... not a great record for something that's only been open for three months.

Offshore, we could see the beginnings of Rampion Wind Farm. My friend told us that at night he could hear the pile driving works in progress, amazing when you consider it is thirteen kilometres out to sea.

After lunch we ambled back from the seafront and had to wait a while for the lock gates to be opened. This boat was passing through and we got chatting to the blokes on deck who were involved in environmental work. They told us that they sail out to the wind farm to try to chase away any dolphins, porpoises or seals to help preserve sea life and to prevent interruptions to the work. Interesting stuff.2Somewhere else I've been lately is nearby Rowfant House. The house, a blend of 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th century architecture is rich in history, having been requisitioned during the war and latterly being purchased by the Latvian Church, who restored it to a habitable state, so it's especially sad that it is up for sale.

A house clearance sale was advertised so I went along to have a look and came home with a few useful bits.

3A Classic Car event was planned at our local caff last weekend and I took a hike down there with my brother and SIL. It's just a small place so I wasn't expecting many motors, but happily there was a decent turn out and we spent an hour reminiscing and inhaling the wonderful aroma of leather interiors.

4

At home the Frister & Rossman was dusted off and I spent an hour and a half in front of the telly one evening, seam ripping an ink stained duvet cover. The stained half I'll use as a dust sheet when decorating, the other half I sewed into a sleeping bag liner.

I saved myself at least a tenner by making it myself and being a thrifty sort, I removed all the duvet buttons too and will recycle those sometime in the future.

5Now to explain why I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger. As the saying goes 'it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind'.... and I have. Back in June after the EU referendum, you may have read here how I was having second thoughts about my dream of buying a little static caravan in France. Since then I've had a change of heart, largely due to by chance finding thissuper second-hand 'mobile home' on a lovely rural site whilst on holiday in Vendée this summer.... and a wake-up call regarding my age! On my return home, I did some sums, thought about the lovely place in France and after some dithering I made an offer... which was accepted! I decided if I don't do it now, I never will, life is for living and (I believe) we're only here once!

Since then it's been non-stop emails and phone calls organizing the purchase and insurance... my French has been well and truly tested and of course there's been shopping galore. The items bought at Rowfant House will be going out and so will the sleeping bag liner...(for use on the last night of my stays so that I don't have to leave dirty bed linen behind.) I'll be crossing the channel soon.... exciting times lay ahead!So that's my Five this Friday, thanks to Amy for the link up and to you too if you made it this far.

Great to catch up, you have been busy! Congrats on the holiday home purchase, I hope that you get to use it a lot and that you love it! Well done you! Thank you for joining Five On Friday, lovely to see you, have a good weekend! xx

Hi Fiona, love your new home here in France, bienvenue!Although we live only 30 minutes from Ouistreham we prefer nowadays to drive to Calais and go through the Tunnel as the Senior Partner prefers to "motor" in France rather than drive in UK! You asked about travelling through the tunnel and I can say that we haven't encountered any problems at Calais, security is high of course. We were delayed one time on a return journey because of an "incident" in the tunnel which took about 3 hours to resolve. Hope that helps.bon weekendMaggie

Wow! You have been busy Fiona and hope you enjoyed the day down here as you were just down the coast from me. We can sometimes see the wind farm on a very clear day too and you won't get me up the i360!Hope you enjoy your French holiday home once everything is sorted too.Fliss xx

Oh my god, I have to cut straight to the chase and say congratulations, I am so excited for you about your new home in France. From now on I am going to be living vicariously through you. What a perfect way to get to use your French! You'll be fluent before you know it! Rowfant House looks beautiful. I hope it goes to the right person xxx

First of all, congratulations on your little home in France! You only live once, and you have definitely made the right decision! I'm loving your seaside photographs. Nothing beats a visit to the seaside to clear your head. With my vertigo, I don't think I would ever go up that tower in Brighton, especially now that I know it's been having problems. It doesn't bear thinking about ... xxx

So, so thrilled to read your news! Just wonderful, and you're absolutely right about now or never, far too easy to talk yourself out of something - better to take that leap (though more scary..) than to always think, what if? It's going to be such an adventure, I'm so excited for you and best excuse ever to start trawling for more lovely old stuff :) xxx

Thanks Tracey, yes it was un peu scary especially being single, I worried about not being able to do the 'blokey stuff' like changing the gaz bottle etc. but le propriétaire has assured me he'll show me how everything works. They probably think I'm the mad Anglaise, have already asked him a question about a bl*wjob (le pipe) instead of un tuyau (pipe) Doh!

I have a mobile home in Ireland and I absolutely love it. I hope you have as much fun in yours as I do in mine! The only drawback to mine is it's not centrally heated so I don't go in the autumn or winter; only Spring and Summer.